Real Estate

Extend living space with sunrooms

Four-season sunrooms often open to the house, and are in every sense a true extension of the house itself

Photograph by: Shawn Hoult
, For the Calgary Herald

By Shawn Hoult

For the Calgary Herald

Calgary is a sunny city; there just aren’t enough days to comfortably enjoy the golden rays without wind gusts blowing dust into your eyes.

Many Calgarians, therefore, are turning to sunroom additions to shield them from the elements — with these glass rooms, you bring so much more light into your existing home it’s like bringing the outdoors indoors.

Sunrooms are usually built with either wooden or aluminum frames, combined with special glass that allows people to see outside.

The materials and glass used varies between manufacturers, and all shapes and sizes of room are available, though most can be separated into two categories: seasonal rooms — which are made for spring, summer and fall — and four-season rooms.

The biggest difference with the seasonal room is traditionally it’s not heated and it’s not open to the home. So it’s like a box on the back of the home or a room you go out to and you extend the seasons. You might be able to use it from March to October.

A true four-season room is when the entire wall from the home is removed and your home is continued out into this glass structure.

The other big difference is price. Seasonal rooms start under $20,000, whereas four-season rooms start in the $30,000s, and will cost between $50,000 and $100,000 for a high-quality product.

Four-season rooms can include just about anything people want, as they are extensions to the house and usable living space.

It’s adding value to your home, so if you have a 1,500-square-foot bungalow and you put a 200-square-foot sunroom on it, you now have a 1,700-square-foot home.

“They’re dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens, master bedrooms, workout rooms, family rooms, some people use them for art galleries.” Mitch Gullacher, sales consultant with Sunrooms Direct, says sunrooms are ideal for Calgary’s climate as they give people the chance to enjoy the outdoors whatever the weather may be.

“Most definitely it’s suitable for the Canadian climate in the winter time, if you do it right,” says Gullacher.

“I’ve had people come in who are artists and that’s where they’re painting. What a beautiful area to go; it’s toasty warm and you’re just enjoying the elements without gett ing any of them on you.”

Gullacher says smaller projects like tented rooms or pergolas can be tackled by doit- yourselfers, but sunrooms are best left to the professionals, particularly four-season rooms that involve modifying the existing home and connecting the new room to heat and electricity.

“You’d probably end up in quite a bit of trouble if you just try to do it yourself,” he says. “A person may be able to build it, but you’d have to be awfully handy —you’d have to be in the construction industry.”